Welcome to a small text-based dedication to Anarki from the classic FPS, Quake III Arena. With a personality that can only be described as cheerful and overenthusiastic in spite of being trapped in a sadistic game of perpetual war for the Arena Masters' amusement, this hoverboard-riding cyborg is both a fearsome opponent and a playable character of the game.

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IMPORTANT: [March 27th, 2015] This site will be revamped and rewritten in the near future, so please tread carefully over the site debris.

Anarki is the quintessential cyberpunk. With his augmentation and enhancements, he's supplied with a constant overlay of graphical data. The world around him is reduced to a surrealistic virtual reality experience, but the damage he dishes out is very, very real.

Always seeking an edge, this cyber-board surfer paid with his humanity for a seemingly endless array of cybronic implants.

One of the 32 characters of Quake III Arena, Anarki is one of the many cyborgs of the game. He's the Arena Lord of tier 4 - the strongest opponent of his skill level, and the last one you have to face before advancing to tiers 5 and 6 and to Xaero, the final boss of the game. He appears in all versions of Quake III and in its online spinoff version, Quake Live.

Character-wise, Anarki is what you would get if you were to cross an overenthusiastic online gamer from the early third millennium with a young skater who has read one too many Philip K. Dick novels. In spite of his body being a mess of bio-tech enhancements and of what the game manual has to say about him, he's still very much human, I'd say - he has retained all his human feelings and he won't miss the chance to crack some jokes whenever possible.

One interesting point to be made about him is that a few of his quotes ➊Cafeteria food! Oh, puke, d00d.➋There's a report card I'm not taking home, d00d.➌Is there, like, a make-up quiz? want to make us think that he might be very young, probably high-school aged. However, that can't be true considered that his body and face make him look like he's in his twenties, if not even in his early thirties. It seems like it might just be an aspect of his teenager-like attitude...or that he's a hell of a poor student...or that he is actually a teenager and his body was completely warped from all the cyborg implants, so he looks a lot older than his age.

Anarki's relationships to the other characters of the game are mostly unknown. All we know is that Xaero doesn't really like him. ➍Anarki annoys me. His very name speaks of chaos. Anyway, his design seems to be similar to that of Slash, so he could be considered her male counterpart. Other than that, it can be safely said that his best friend is his board. He's never seen without it, and he only dismounts when a hard blow knocks him off the board and sends him flying to his death.

Some of Anarki's most significant quotes will be found throughout this page; if you'd like to see more, you can find all of them at the Q3A quotes database.

As an enhanced human, Anarki is covered in implants to the point of being unclear whether there are parts of his body left untarnished. Other characters will even reference that by calling him "freak boy" or "cyber-scarecrow", much to his disappointment...There is lots to be said about the many ways in which his cyborg addons have turned him into something much more and much less than human.

Anarki's glowing visor adds a graphical interface to his field of vision that provides him with all sorts of data about the ongoing match, which sort of explains his high precision. Actually, it might be that the HUD of the game itself is the same one supplied by Anarki's visor! So I would guess that, when playing as him, you're actually seeing through his eyes.

From his point of view, everything looks like virtual reality, which might be part of why he's always so cheerful and unaffected by being a toy to the Arena Masters - could it be that he hasn't even figured out that what he's playing is not a game?

Judging from the way it's lodged in his head and from the blood on his temples and cheekbones, it's unlikely that Anarki could see were the visor forcibly removed. Does he even have eyes anymore underneath it?

The mouth ◀

When hit, Anarki won't scream in pain like the other human characters; instead, he emits a series of humming noises. If you're curious, this is how Anarkisoundslike. If you look at him up close, you'll figure out why - his mouth is sewn shut. D: This is also referenced when he's talking with other characters, who might be mean enough to refer to him as "mumbles". It's unclear how he speaks at all in game - maybe his messages are actually delivered through the game chat, or maybe they appear on his visor. Now, as to why he can't speak, that is possibly his most mysterious feature. Oath? Punishment? A problem with bad breath?

Some of the in-game non-unique dialogue reference sewing shut the lips of anyone who's too talkative - and Anarki is very chatty...perhaps his treatment was the Vadrigar's warning to everyone else to talk less and fight more? However, his physical inability to speak doesn't really stop him from pestering everyone...

Notably, this detail is only visible in Quake III. It was removed from Quake Live, probably because they wanted it to get the Teen rating instead of Mature. Because that stuff would leave teens mentally scarred for life, as proven by the fact that I'm writing this site now. See? Anyway, his muffled sounds stay the same, so it's safe to say that his mouth is still wired shut.

Even though he goes around bare-chested with rather loose pants covering his lower half, Anarki seems to take special care in protecting two parts of his body with metallic armor - his heart region, and his crotch. Look at the picture if you don't believe me, I'm not even kidding. Even though his body will be promptly reconstructed as soon as he gets killed, he clearly doesn't want to deal with certain special types of pain...which I can kinda understand considering that one of the weapons of the game is a forearm-mounted electrified blade. However, even such sturdy protection doesn't always seem to be enough, as referenced in some of his most amusing quotes. ➊Illegal search! Illegal sear...➋[PLAYER] d00d, how'd you get through my surge protector?

The back port ◀

Okay, I know, I'm ten. No, well, actually, there is an important point to be made here - as referenced in some of his dialogues ➌[PLAYER]! You overcharged my batteries, d00d.➍Charging my batteries is tougher than fragging you, [PLAYER]., Anarki is actually battery-powered, and he says that he has to physically recharge from time to time. And...is that where his power cord goes?...

▶ The shoes

Anarki's shoes are asymmetrical; his right shoe has a wider base, as it's the one that latches on to the board. If you pay attention right before he gets killed, you will be able to see the very moment when it's clear that it's too late for him - when his right foot stops touching the board.

Well, Anarki is clearly both cyber and punk - an influence that permeates the entire world of Quake, but comes out in his character more than anything else. I mean, think of his very name!

Anarki's very own cyberpunk brand is, however, anything but dark; the only thing that's gloomy and gritty about him is the blood splattered all over him. In fact, Anarki is very reminiscent of the original punks in his personality - cheerful, enthusiastic and fun-loving, to the point that he set his name to appear in a rainbow of colors (Anarki) because that's just how happy with everything he is. Think of, I don't know, The Ramones.

The Vadrigar might have him trapped in the Arena Eternal, but he seems to be taking it well, and to be willing to help out everyone else in that hell. He has always something good to say about everything, and most of the time he'll actually congratulate whoever fragged him last for the awesome show, and be all "let's do it again!" ➊[PLAYER]! D00d, you have obviously been at this for a long time.➋Score one for ol' [PLAYER]. 1 more 'K' like that and I'll let you try my board.➌Good fight, [PLAYER] d00d. Next time we'll run together.. For comparison, there are other characters who will insult you nine times out of ten (Hunter, I love you, but fuck if you're mean...); Anarki's chance to insult you is three out of ten, and even like that, most of his insults aren't either insults at all or he's just pulling your leg. ➍Nice shot, PC Junior. What's that, [PLAYER], like a Y1K thing?➎I'm lightning and you got no surge protector, [PLAYER].➏[PLAYER] at dead dot com. Even his taunt is hummed, muffled "yay! whee!".
He just wants to keep everything friendly and chill.

His punkishness is also shown in his preferences - his love for the hoverboard, first and foremost, but also his...musical preferences, as shown in a couple of dialogues. ➐Hard to mosh in here.➑Anyone wanna sell a ticket?➒Metal, dude, lots of metal. Ha! I can absolutely imagine that, prior to becoming a gladiator of the Arena Eternal, Anarki was a playful street punk, likely to be found livening up the sidewalk with skate acrobatics, going to each and every metal concert in his zone and crunching his night away playing games. (We could have been friends).

Another very notable thing about Anarki is that, unlike the other characters of the game, he seems to be actually playing the game itself instead of being just a gladiator fighting in the Arena Eternal. As previously said when talking about his visor, that is probably because he lives in a virtual reality, and his field of vision coincides with what the player would see, interface and all. In a way, playing as Anarki creates the most immersive Quake III experience you could have. However, Anarki is also a hell of a gamer himself - as referred in many of his dialogues, he seems to know a great deal about his computers ➊I need a better ping.➋Hehe, there's an asterisk for your URL, [PLAYER]!➌Whoaaaa, like, overclockin' brain drain!; his name is also displayed in a rainbow of colors to suggest that he's handy enough to know how to pull that off.

One more thing about him is that he sounds just like the typical gamer kid from a few years ago - down to the chatspeak ➍ROFLMAO!, the leetspeak ➎D00D! I'm Pi22a toppin6! [PLAYER].➏I ride in kewler circles, lamer. CU L8r. and to the typical topics of conversation ➐Is your picture in the dictionary next to 'lamer', [PLAYER]?. Considering that both Quake and Quake II had a hell of a multiplayer mode and were probably covered in people sounding just like that, Anarki might be a nod to that type of player. More than ten years after that, it sounds so silly and even a bit adorable, I'll say.

However, his cheerfulness coupled with his gaming obsession bring up an eerie piece of speculation: could it be that Anarki hasn't processed that he's been taken by the Vadrigar to fight for their amusement and he thinks that he's still playing a computer game which, incidentally, is the same game you'd be playing? Some dialogues sound a lot like something an actual human player would say ➑Bad connection ... gotta be the connection.➒Try a game-pad, fat fingers. You're, like, hitting all the wrong keys.. Could it be that this whole deal is a lot more twisted than it seems?

Besides, if you think about it, Anarki would otherwise have very little reason to share the Arena with the other gladiators. Most other characters are either soldiers and heroes of their own war (Bitterman, Doom, Keel, Sarge), generally evil and badass killers (Lucy, Sorlag, Angel, Cadavre), or related to the mysterious Arena Masters (Bones, Orbb). Anarki isn't a war veteran or a murderer and has nothing to do with the Vadrigar. My theory here would be that the reason why Anarki has joined their ranks is because he was a skilled Quake III player, and the Vadrigar claimed him too. However, since he was already a cyborg using virtual reality to play the game and since he was already hooked, he didn't realize what changed. If Anarki has since figured out that he has become a part of the game he was playing, he clearly considers it a honor, and completely awesome - after all, isn't the dream of every kid to join the world of his or her own favorite video game?

Then, the Arena Eternal is also an interdimensional structure where multiple timelines converge. It could even be that Anarki is a great player from the future, and considering how he looks like an adult while sounding like a teenager, he might even be the future avatar of a current player kid. Or, even...your future avatar, in a timeline where the player got extremely skilled. OH NO.

▶ Anarki's gameplay

As an opponent you have to face on your way to Xaero, Anarki is the Arena Lord of tier 4, meaning that he's a gym leader sort of miniboss at the end of his skill group. You will face Anarki in the map called Vertical Vengeance, a high-tech map built on three levels. Scooting around on his hoverboard, he's faster than most other characters, and because of his many enhancements he's also rather accurate and has basically no reaction time. Actually, when playing in Nightmare mode, his reaction time is 0 - for comparison, Xaero's is 0.5, so he's a fearsome opponent alright. His favorite weapon is the Rocket Launcher, but he doesn't disdain the Rail Gun, Shotgun and Plasma Gun either. When playing against him in another map, he finds no use for the Lightning Gun, Grenade Launcher and BFG-10K - for the very simple reason that they can't be found on Vertical Vengeance, so he doesn't really know how to use them properly.

For what concerns his strategy, Anarki is very reckless - as soon as he respawns, he'll run for the closest weapon, he'll hunt you down and start an all-out offensive that might end on his favor if you don't pay attention, especially considering that he has good aim. So, the best way to win against him is to attack him before he can put his hands on a good weapon, or snipe him before he can see you.

Now, to Anarki's best friend: his awesome hoverboard. Man, his hoverboard. When I was a wee kid I used to draw comics with this one character who had a hoverboard. It was glorious. It was all I wanted from life, really. I will be the first to say that the future has let us down with its lack of hoverboards. Nevertheless, Anarki really has to outcool everyone and have one, and not just a regular one either, one with a graphic of a flaming skull on it.

Really, though, this little jewel is his best friend - to the point that he cares for its safety even more than his own, and will never abandon it ➊Aim higher, [PLAYER]! Watch out for the board, man!➋Save the board! Save the board!, even when dying. As previously seen, his right shoe has a larger base than his left because it latches on to the board, allowing him to jump around and scoot over stairs without any effort.
His board is what gives him the advantage of speed over most other gladiators, even though, just like Anarki himself, it's battery-powered and has to be recharged from time to time. ➌Charging the board for round two.
It must also be said that he apparently also uses it for keeping his score ➍I'll put that notch high on the board, [PLAYER]., so there might be more than just one reason why he's so attached to it.

This site...was pretty much of a whim of the moment. One day I was thinking that I would have wanted to write a fansite about Anarki, and whining to myself about how hard it would be to talk about a character who has so little information to work with, and then somewhere on that train of thought decided that I could do it, and so I did. I do have a lot of headcanons about him, so why not take advantage of that and write them down while I'm at it? Also, the minor character fansite marathon was going on over at Amassment, so I thought that I might as well use that as a trampoline to get me started on this.

As to why I like him, I think that what charmed me about Anarki was his personality, even before the fact that he's a half-naked cyborg riding a hoverboard and therefore automatically awesome. I consider him sort of cute, with his gamer mannerisms and his generally happy attitude. His quotes vastly amuse me and it's fun to look at him dashing around on his board. However, it has to be said that I love all characters in that game...

If for some reason you'd like a banner, here they are. Most of them were donated by the kind members of Amassment. By the way - both Cyberpunk and the full name are valid names for this site, I admit on making the long version just for the fancy navigation, shh.

If you'd like to contact me for any reason, feel free to send a mail to this address. Goodbye!